Signage issues arise at North Hudson buffalo farm

A sign points towards the Adirondack Buffalo Company North Hudson in June 2015.

A North Hudson buffalo farm will move forward with a project to install a bathroom at the tourist destination -- if state officials clarify in a letter that the addition will meet all the requirements needed to place signage along a busy highway.

The Adirondack Buffalo Company, for several years, has been talking to numerous government agencies about ways to increase signage for the business, which is home to about 40 American bison.

But the company says it’s not just their business being hampered by red tape associated with getting signs up. Concerns have also been raised that Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp has lost business because of a web of rules overseen by agencies including the New York State Department of Transportation and the Adirondack Park Agency.

The farm and other facilities are located off exit 29 in the struggling town of North Hudson. A new gas station also recently opened up in the town.

Last week, the saga entered a new chapter when the buffalo farm took to social media to voice frustrations about a letter from the state Department of Transportation. Steep fines would be levied if it did not remove two yellow and brown signs. The signs were placed at the end of exit ramps from Interstate Highway 87, commonly known as the Northway.

“Well, folks - Here we go again,” Dorreen Ossenkop, co-owner and operator of the buffalo farm wrote June 1 in a Facebook post. “The NYS DOT is again demanding we (all businesses with signage at exit 29) remove our business signs from the Northway/Blue Ridge Road rights-of-way or suffer daily fines of $100 per sign, removal and disposal of said signs, and fees to pay for the cost of said removal.”

Hundreds of people shared the Facebook message on the social media site and it also prompted communication between the company and state officials, including state Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury.

By the end of the week, the farm appeared to have an agreement in place where it could keep the signs up along the state road for a while longer. In exchange, Ossenkop said the company will install a bathroom, which will hopefully allow it to qualify as a destination spot that can have signage along the Northway.

Steve Ossenkop, Dorreen’s husband and business partner, said he’s planning to install the bathroom at a cost of roughly $4,000 to $6,000. The construction project should only take about a month, he said.

But before the Ossenkops start the project they want some assurances on the specifics of their agreement. “It’s easy to misunderstand over the phone,” Dorreen Ossenkop said. “I’d like them to spell out exactly what they are going to require from us.”

Dan McEntee, chief of staff for Little, said he’s hopeful the latest round of communication will lead to DOT-approved signage being permanently in place for both the buffalo farm and Jellystone.

Bryan Viggiani, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said in a June 5 email that officials will continue to work with the Adirondack Buffalo Company and elected officials to find a solution that satisfies all parties involved.

“They are in the process of building a public restroom with running water, which will qualify them as a destination at Exit 29. We expect to come to a mutually agreeable resolution. In the meantime, their existing sign will remain in place,” Viggiani wrote